Bridgewater to host traveling Vietnam memorial

BRIDGEWATER — Between Feb. 23, 1966 and June 23, 1971, 33 Somerset County men died in Vietnam. Another local soldier, reported missing in action on Dec. 29, 1968, has never returned.

Now a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. is coming to Branch Park on Milltown Road in Bridgewater to honor those men and others who fought and came home. After an opening ceremony marking the arrival of the memorial on Oct. 13 at 6 p.m., local officials intend to honor surviving members of the Vietnam War era military with county medals of freedom.

The “Cost of Freedom” wall is a four-fifths reproduction of the black granite memorial in Washington that displays the names of 58,195 soldiers who died in Vietnam or from wounds received during the war. American Veterans Traveling Tribute is a private veterans’ organization that created the wall and brings it from site to site.

Victims of the 9/11 attacks and U.S. troops killed during the war on terror are also to be recognized in two accompanying memorial displays.

The site will be open 24 hours a day from 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13 through 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 16.

John LeGates, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 452 and state council president, said he expects about 100,000 people will visit over the four-day period, based on the turnout in 2005, when a similar display was erected for five days in Flemington.

LeGates and Chapter 452 members were involved “almost from the absolute beginning,” he said.

“I think people have finally figured out that what happened with Vietnam veterans was that the people began to blame us for the war,” he said. “The protesters were blaming the warriors for the war. They should have been blaming the government.”

For Freeholder Peter Palmer, the height of respect for military veterans came after World War II, with the “greatest generation.” The inconclusive Korean War set the stage for what came next, Palmer said — “The whole Vietnam era, which was so divisive in the country, and veterans were not respected when they came home.” But they were doing what they were ordered to do, he said, “just like any other war,” and “none since have been any more conclusive than Vietnam.”

The effort by Somerset County and others to give medals to Vietnam vets is a reflection of the desire to help right that wrong, Palmer said.

More than 800 Vietnam service medals were distributed to Somerset County residents in a 2005 ceremony, according to county spokeswoman Linda Van Zandt. Another 80 or so residents will receive Vietnam service medals at the opening ceremony tomorrow.

With the passage of time, LeGates said, people recognized that the veterans were wronged. “We don’t want to do that again.” The traveling wall provides an opportunity to people to show their respect.

LeGates said he’s familiar with the 33 Somerset County soldiers who were killed, as well as one who is officially still MIA. Chapter 452 has arranged for a ceremony on Saturday night in which the mayors of their home towns will lay wreaths at the wall in their honor.

“It gives us in the 452 a chance to pay our respects to our fallen brothers,” LeGates said. “Never again will one generation of vets abandon another.”

The cost of bringing the display to Bridgewater will total about $40,000, Palmer said, and is to be paid for entirely by private contributions. According to Veronica Finlay, who led the fundraising effort, donations from local businesses, service organizations and individuals has topped $25,000. State Sen. Kip Bateman contributed the $10,000 to pay the American Veterans Traveling Tribute fee. The veterans’ motorcycle group Rolling Thunder will escort the wall to the Bridgewater site and will provide security while it is here, LeGates said.